Satoshi Kawashima has been a project researcher (full-time) at the University of Tokyo since August 2007 and a part-time lecturer in human rights and disability at Niigata University since June 2005. He is a member of the CRPD Sub-Committee of the Japan Disability Forum (JDF), and participated in the UN Ad Hoc Committee on CRPD (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th) as an observer.

He received a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from Niigata University in 2005 for the dissertation: Sh?gaisha no Kokusai Jinken H?sh?: sono Rekishi to Kadai (International Protection of Human Rights and Persons with Disabilities: Recent History and Future Challenges). His specialization is international disability law.

He has published a number of articles on disability law in Japanese, and is a contributor to and co-editor of a number of academic books including:

・O. Nagase & S. Kawashima, Sh?gaisha no Kenri J?yaku: Kokuren Sagy?bukai S?an (The Draft Disability Rights Convention and the UN Working Group), Tokyo: Akashi Shoten (2004);

・O. Nagase, T. Higashi & S. Kawashima, Sh?gaisha no Kenri J?yaku to Nippon: Gaiy? to Tenb? (The Disability Rights Convention and Japan: Present and Future Perspectives), Tokyo: Seikatsu Shoin (2008);

・R. Matsui & S. Kawashima, Gaisetsu Sh?gaisha no Kenri J?yaku (A Study of the Disability Rights Convention), Kyoto: H?ritsu Bunkasha (2010); and

・A. Matsui, D. Goodley, O. Nagase, S. Kawashima, A. Sheldon & Y. Sawada, Proceedings of the Todai Forum 2009 ‘Creating a Society for All: Disability and the Economy,’ Leeds: Disability Press (forthcoming).